Tell me how to enjoy Armitage

[Robin Low]

Regarding the Dredd and Alpha universes...

It's interesting how Dredd has become a little more pro-mutant in recent years. Prior to Origins, Dredd took an active dislike of Johnny Alpha. He tolerated him at best, disliked him at worst. But now? They could be friends. Perhaps Dredd would invite Johnny round for a game of put the tail on Walter the wobot.  

I'm not sure I agree with your assessment of Dredd's dislike of Alpha. In Top Dog Dredd just had a problem with Alpha for breaking the law; his being a mutant in the city was just an additional law broken. In Judgement Day Dredd objected to Alpha because he was a bounty hunter. I don't think Dredd ever had a problem with Alpha or mutants unless they were breaking the law. Over the years, he's been happy enough to come to their aid or team-up with them.

However, with regards to being friends, well, I think Dredd could easily come to understand the predicament that Alpha was in and respect and like him as much as he respects and likes anyone else. In fact, from Dredd's point of view, Alpha would probably make a damn good Judge.

Anyway, Alpha is techinically Dredd's great-grandson by way of the illegitimate child Vienna had in Brit-Cit...

Regards

Robin

[Robin Low]

Do you want to risk it?

In these circumstances, I follow the WWPDD rule:   What Would Professor Dibworthy Do?  

Even I'm not going to try to bring Future Shocks into the continuity! That way lies madness...

(And I've no idea what Dibworthy did anyway - I had to Google the blighter.)

Regards

Robin

[Mike Gloady]

So TordelBack, What Would Professor Dibworthy Do?  Exactly?

I know what Dredd would do.  He wouldn't take any chances with the welfare of his city, he'd do whatever it takes - even pressing the button on the Brits without provocation if it came down to that.  That's what makes him so compelling as a character, heroic and monstrous in equal measure - Dredd has the moral courage to do what's necessary for the greater good.  No matter what.

I'm an unashamed lover of Armitage (to drag us back onto topic (although I think we've pretty much dealt with it) and loathe Tank Girl with a passion.  Different strokes for different folks, I guess.  Seeing as the meg is, apart from Tank Girl, very well put together and hugely entertaining I'm quite happy to leave one strip slot alone and enjoy the bits I like, as I hope Tank Girl fans who dislike Armitage would do for me.

[TordelBack]

So TordelBack, What Would Professor Dibworthy Do?  Exactly?

The good Professor could never leave well enough alone - whether it was coming back from the future to persuade his past self to take one course or another, or chucking anvils at historical figures, he was always fiddling about with time.  The only constant was that his incessant meddling made for two good stories. 

So WWPDD?  Whatever makes for the best story.

[vzzbux]

I've just been folding paper and there was a knock at the door.






V

[Cactus]

I bought my first Meg around the time of Armitage's second series and I've loved the character and the setting ever since. I'm pleased to see from the summary earlier that during my temporary hiatus I only missed one Armitage story. That's also a real shame because the first two series and the flashbacks, apart from being very entertaining reads, established a protagonist and his nemesis in a setting that was hostile to them both. (Efil Drago San is a criminal but he's more a part of the establishment than poor Armitage ever will be.) The third series seemed a bit disjointed (not helped by that episode where the page order was scrambled) but it added another loose plot thread. I always got the the sense that there was something epic rumbling on in the background, but that it would take years of strip-time to resolve. Now, after years of real-time, it seems to have faded away and we're left with police procedurals. They're good stories, but without that epic and shadowy backdrop I wonder whether Armitage is the best character to tell them with.

Monthly episodes don't help. The slow-burn worked a lot better when the Meg was fortnightly.

[Delingpole]

I know I started this thread but I wish it would just die and slump into the silt at the bottom of the posting lake as I do feel a little bit guilty about the title. But it bears out my point about catchy/provocative titles. There's more life in 'em.

However, much as I've tried to take your comments on board I still think the current Armitage artwork is pants. I've tried to like it, really I have. I've tried to see some artistic merit in the heavy-handed grey shading, that awful profile of Armitage with the "Bigmouth Billy Bass" lower lip and no teeth, and all I can conclude is that it is really not very good when compared to just about anything else in 2000AD or the Meg. Sorry but there it is.

[Dark Jimbo]

Know what?

Loathe as I am to keep this thread going (sorry Delingpole) I feel I owe Dave Stone an apology, and this seems a good enough place to do it. I was one of those who accused Treasure Steel's character of being an awful kind of tokenism a little while ago, but it's only having read the collected Meg trades that I've realised that her being a lesbian, for instance, genuinely was incidental to the character - it doesn't get a single mention!

I think my opinion was unduly influenced by her relationship stuff having been very much front and centre in every one of the (few) Armitage stories I had read at that point. Still don't like her much as a character, but that's neither here not there.

So sorry, Dave.

[Richmond Clements]

So sorry, Dave

What the fuck are you doing??

This is the internet, man- we never apologise!

[TordelBack]

Yeah, War Marshal Kazan was on the right tack there.

[TheEdge]

its just a page filler, probably pulled out of a garbage bin cause they have run out of creative material.

[TordelBack]

...probably pulled out of a garbage bin cause they have run out of creative material.

Bloody hell, that's a bit rough!  The fact that the Meg is 'supporting' the current Armitage with (at least) two reprint collections (or vice versa) during its run shows confidence in the strip.  In fact, it shows an awareness of one of the criticisms leveled at Armitage and Meg strips in general, that they appear at such stretched intervals that its very hard to remember or care about the characters or situations.  Unwanted inventory that has to be run to plug a gap is unlikely to get that kind of treatment.

Here, hands up who's fed up with me popping up on these threads complaining about overly negative posts and offering soppy defenses?  Yeah, me too.  I'll stop.

[House of Usher]

Unwanted inventory that has to be run to plug a gap

That used to be a huge problem for both 2000ad and the Megazine. I don't think it happens at all any more, does it? I think, with times being as lean as they are, Tharg has to be quite discerning about the strips he commissions. Consequently they get commissioned in short, self-contained runs, and they see print quite promptly. You can't afford to spend the commissioning budget two years in advance and have a backlog of quickly outdated material cluttering up the drawers and have to turn down pitches from top talent because there's nothing to pay for them with.

[Colin YNWA]

That used to be a huge problem for both 2000ad and the Megazine. I don't think it happens at all any more, does it? I think, with times being as lean as they are, Tharg has to be quite discerning about the strips he commissions. Consequently they get commissioned in short, self-contained runs, and they see print quite promptly. You can't afford to spend the commissioning budget two years in advance and have a backlog of quickly outdated material cluttering up the drawers and have to turn down pitches from top talent because there's nothing to pay for them with.

Out of interest is this based on any specific information or is this supposition? I agree that there seems to be much more quality material in 2000ad (I can't speak for the Meg) but is this due to times being so hard or is it the fact that there are a lot of quality creators wanting to work for 2000ad?

[House of Usher]

is this based on any specific information or is this supposition?

It's based on building up a picture from bits and pieces of information here and there and filling in the blanks, a bit like the way they reconstruct dinosaurs from an incomplete skeleton. Just things that have appeared in print and things people have said in panel discussions.